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Think global, act local! Think about some big ideas and values that matter to you. ( Such as the ones you may have discovered by reading EQxD Action #11). Often the most straightforward and impactful way into those issues is through advocacy and activism within one’s own local community. There are many ways to get involved with policy change at a local level. Click on the links in the list below to explore some ideas.

Attend a local meeting - In most communities, the city council, planning commission, and zoning commission all hold regular public meetings. The agenda is published before the meeting so that you can keep track of when matters that are important to you will be discussed.

Attend your Congressional Representative’s Town Hall - Most members of congress hold regular town hall meetings in which constituents are given an opportunity to ask their representatives to publicly address their concerns. These meetings are generally covered by the press, so they provide a way to build awareness for your issue, especially if you attend with a group of like-minded constituents.

Join a Board or a Committee - There are a host of local and state-level boards and committees that would benefit from architects’ voices. Like Florida, your local or state AIA may have a list of committee appointments, and may even offer assistance with the application process.

Run for Office! - Whether you plan to run for your local school board, or are contemplating a run for city council, there are a host of resources available to first-time candidates hoping to make an impact in their communities.

Why it is Important:

While your values and goals are likely expansive, you don’t need to change federal laws to make a positive impact. Many of the policies that shape our workplaces and the built environment, from paid leave policies to zoning ordinances that provide equitable access to housing and public spaces to regulations governing environmental stewardship, are legislated at the local or state level. By getting involved in local organizations and politics, we, as architects, can leverage our reputation as creative problem solvers to delve into complex issues and advocate for a better future for our communities and the environments that they inhabit.

Think About What Matters to You - Are there issues that are particularly important because you’re a member of the architecture community? If so, your professional expertise may be persuasive to others, and help you to make a bigger impact in the areas that matter to you most.

Leverage Resources - Once you have decided what issues are important to you, begin to identify like-minded organizations and individuals within the AEC community . By finding allied organizations, you can leverage existing resources and have a more immediate impact. These groups may also be able to provide relevant research, talking points, or tool kits that help you to share your architectural expertise on your issues with elected officials and members of your community.

Talk to your local AIA Advocacy Committee, or your state AIA Lobbyist about the AIA’s legislative priorities at a local level. You may find partners and resources, or even help shape your component’s agenda.

Why it is important:

In 1968 at the AIA National Convention, Whitney M. Young famously rebuked the architecture profession by stating, “...you are not a profession that has distinguished itself by your social and civic contributions to the cause of civil rights...You are most distinguished by your thunderous silences and your complete irrelevance.” Since that wake up call forty-nine years ago, activism has become a much bigger part of the architecture profession through the efforts of dedicated citizen architects, as well as the AIA, NOMA and other organizations. Each of us has the opportunity to join this movement and demonstrate that architecture and architects are concerned not only with buildings, but with the people who inhabit them and with the political processes that shape the ways that they are made. Your voice as an architect matters in the political process. We are respected professionals, employers, shapers, designers, and influencers of the built environment. We, as a group, have the ability to collectively speak up with a greater power and voice than one person can alone.

Do the Research - Start by finding out what you need to do in order to become licensed in your jurisdiction. Most areas require some combination of the national Architectural Registration Exams (AREs) and documentation of required experience through the Architectural Experience Program (AXP). Some jurisdictions have additional requirements (such as the California Supplemental Exam) The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) provides many excellent resources for navigating through these tests and programs. Once you understand the process, it becomes much less daunting. See the links below for further information.

Create a Schedule - Go high tech and use Asana or a different free scheduling/reminder app or stick with the analog approach by simply make a list on a piece of paper - either way the important thing is to set your deadline and design progressive steps along the way for reaching that goal. This is especially important for the AREs. Pick a date that you would like to have completed all of your tests and then figure out how to pace yourself to reach that goal. For example, if you want to complete your tests in two years, plan on taking a test about every 2-3 months (a fairly reasonable pace with a decent amount of study time for most people). If you are ambitious, go ahead and schedule your exams! The pressure of meeting those deadlines will help you reach your goal. You can also create a schedule for the AXP and communicate your schedule with your firm to help them target opportunities to give you the experience you need in each category. The big idea here is to make a plan and stick to it!

Get Connected - Create a Support Group - For some people, this option may seem unnecessary, but for others, creating a study group can be highly motivating and help you stay focused. Find up to 4-5 people that are taking the exams and set up a virtual and physical meet-up to mentor/support each other. Compare notes on which tests were difficult, and strategies that worked for getting through. Another route is to join social media groups of people that are taking the ARE as a method for virtual support. It is also important to create a support group within your firm to help you reach your AXP hours. Talk about categories that you are having trouble getting experience in and brainstorm ways to fill that need.

Leverage Firm Support/Resources - Does your firm provide time/money/resources for you to get licensed? Find out! Many firms provide study books, reimburse for tests, or pay for the time to take the exam. If there are no policies in place, write to the firm leadership with a proposal of HR policies for Licensure support of staff and the benefits associated.

Why it is important:

Why is a Road Map Important?

Accountability and Goal Setting will keep you on target and focused while navigating a complicated process.

You are learning a valuable skill set not only for the licensure process, but one you can apply to charting your goals for professional development.

Why is Licensure Important?

Credentials - Earning a credential helps provide credibility to you as a professional and combats implicit bias, especially for those who are not in a majority demographic.

Confidence and Autonomy - You could start your own business if you wanted to!

Leverage Point for Negotiating - Having a credential provides you with a major tool when negotiating for a higher salary, professional advancement, and better project opportunities

It’s not just about negotiating an individual’s salary, but also about building a skill set that is invaluable to any architecture firm. If you are not building your negotiation skills, you are leaving money on the table for client fee proposals and additional services. You also won’t be advocating for your clients with contractor’s change orders.

There are many different ways in which you can find people of different backgrounds to interact with - the key is to put yourself out there and be open to experience the world through a different lens..

Suggestions:

Volunteer at a Soup Kitchen, Habitat for Humanity, or another organization which reaches out to disadvantaged people or people with a different life journey than yourself.

Participate in a Hackathon to explore new solutions within a “move fast” / “ask why and why not?” framework.

Offer to mentor a young person in your office or join a mentorship group program.

Join a new club to explore a new interest. Websites like https://www.meetup.com/ can make it very easy to find a diverse group of people interested in a similar topic.

Attend a local multicultural event, parade, or rally that you normally would not go to. Ask a few participants to share with you why the event or cause is important to them.

Why it is important:

In today’s digital world, social media is designed to keep us looking at topics that we already like and agree with. This creates a sheltered bubble which perpetuates unconscious biases that we have towards other people. This bubble is also a factor of where we live and how we were raised. Reaching out to new people helps to break these unconscious biases and enables us to develop empathy and understanding about others’ perspectives and cultures. By making it a goal to share experiences, learn together, and “walk a mile” in the shoes of people from different backgrounds, we can begin to eliminate the biases which inform our decisions about others or issues, and begin to create a more compassionate and equitable society.

Help us celebrate Women’s History Month by writing at least one woman architect, designer or someone involved in the built environment into Wikipedia.

ArchiteXX would like to invite everyone you know to help write into Wikipedia women designers, architects and all those involved in the creation of our built environment during the month of March. We are continuing our global efforts in order to have the most diverse and wide ranging of women written in. Our WikiD guides to editing Wikipedia are here to help you.

Why it is important:

You can’t be what you can’t see. The lack of representation of architects who are women and people of color in Wikipedia further supports the creativity bias that views men being more creative than their female counterparts. Recognizing and documenting the accomplishments of women and people of color in architecture will transcend the glass ceiling for many who are not digital natives.

Begin by re-writing job descriptions to use neutral and/or inclusive language. Then, redesign your interview process to make it more structured and consistent for all applicants. Also, consider adding a skills-based test to the hiring process, including a blind portfolio and resume review, and/or conducting interviews by phone. All of these methods can mitigate bias by creating empirical points of comparison between candidates and eliminating information that can trigger biases. For help taking these steps and more, take a look at the links under “Further Reading” below.

Why it is important:

Despite many companies’ recent interest and good intentions, a lack of gender and racial diversity remains a major issue in the workplace. One way to effectively combat this problem within your own firm is to ensure your hiring process is as equitable as possible. he hiring process is often highly influenced by unconscious biases that cause well-meaning individuals to make racial and gender-biased decisions when writing job descriptions and performing interviews. Restructuring your hiring process can help to reduce the amount of bias affecting your decisions and lead to a more diverse and equitable workplace.

If You Are an Employer: Take a look at the articles under “Further Reading” and start formulating a plan for creating written criteria for promotion. Start by creating a detailed description for each position within your firm. Try to focus as much as possible on specific, objective criteria that are necessary for the success in the position, and avoid using descriptors that are stereotypically associated with one race or gender. Share these descriptions with your employees, and use them to discuss employee performance, areas for individual growth, and to track progress towards promotion eligibility. When it comes time to evaluate employees for a promotion, develop a standardized process for creating an employee talent profile and use these profiles to compare against your written promotion criteria.

If You Have an Employer: Approach your employer using the information from this post. Explain the importance of having a transparent promotion process (the “why it is important” section below is a great place to start!). After explaining these ideas, provide a solution by suggesting that written performance criteria for promotions can help neutralize bias in the promotion process. Use the articles in the “Further Reading” to begin to develop a method of writing performance criteria for promotions.

Why it is important:

Diversity is important in helping business to achieve their goals and many companies are pursuing diversity initiatives to demonstrate that support. Unfortunately, few companies are actually seeing results from these diversity initiatives. One of the driving reasons for this problem is that woman and people of color are often passed over for leadership roles due to unconscious bias. Publishing written criteria for promotion processes helps to neutralize this bias and identify the best talent by identifying the objective criteria that are most likely to be predictive of success in a given role.

Using written criteria for positions as an integral part of the promotion process is also strongly correlated with measures of employee satisfaction. The 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey asked respondents about their perceptions of a number of aspects of their work lives, ranging from whether they felt that they shared their firm's values to whether they were confident in their ability to do their jobs, to whether they thought they had enough time and energy to pursue their interests outside of work. Of the 14 categories of career perceptions tracked by the survey, the most negative average perceptions were related to the perceived effectiveness of respondents' firms' promotion processes. Only 41% of men, and 32% of women described this process as “very” or “somewhat" effective with the remainder of respondents indicating that it was "hard to say," or that the process was "very" or "somewhat" ineffective. Respondents opinions of their firm's promotion process were strongly linked with the criteria that respondents said that their firms used to determine promotion. Amongst those who reported that their firms used written criteria for a position to determine promotion eligibility, respondents were much more likely to approve of their firms' process, with 57% of male respondents, and 52% of female respondents, in this group reporting that their firm's process was "very" or "somewhat" effective. Meanwhile, those who said that their firms used relationships with principals or partners, tenure, or unclear or undefined criteria less likely to view the process as effective.

Read the articles in the “Reading” section to better understand bias and learn how to mitigate bias at work. If you can, share the articles with your employer, and encourage him or her to begin implementing the practices at your work. If you cannot share with your employer, follow as much of the advice as possible on your own to help encourage an equitable workplace. Try to openly discuss the advice and strategies with your coworkers and employer.

Why it is important:

Everyone is biased in some way or another - it is a natural part of being human. Unfortunately, unconscious bias can have a negative impact on the workplace, especially in regards to promotion and compensation. Unconscious biases can often cause an employer to unintentionally favor one group in the workplace over another. Thus, the favored group is more likely to receive bonuses, promotions, and higher pay. This is especially common in purely merit-based compensation systems - an employer may believe she is being objective when in actuality, biases and stereotypes are influencing his or her decisions. It is important, therefore, to take conscious steps to try and prevent unconscious bias in the workplace and promote equitable promotion and compensation systems. By adopting systems that root out bias, by taking factors like race, ethnicity, religious background, immigration status, gender or sexuality out of the promotion and compensation equation, employers are able to foster more diverse talent. Increased diversity, in turn, has been shown to encourage creativity and enhance profitability.

Partner with a few coworkers and agree to amplify each other’s voices during meetings and team discussions. If one of your partners is interrupted in the meeting, politely point this out to the interrupter by saying something like “I am sorry, but I missed what Laura was saying. Laura, what was that?” or give the interrupted person another opportunity to speak by saying something like “Let’s get back to Laura’s point. Laura, can you continue?” Furthermore, you can help ensure credit is given to the proper place by saying things like “I really liked Laura’s idea to do ______.” Partners working together in this way can help make sure more voices are heard during meetings.

Why it is important:

Not all ideas are equally heard during meetings and discussions. Many times, men tend to talk more frequently and make more suggestions while women and people of color are interrupted and not given credit for their ideas. This situation perpetuates the negative bias that women are less creative than men and ultimately gives women and people of color less influence in the profession. By ensuring these individuals an opportunity to speak, we can prevent their ideas from being attributed to others or ignored completely and thus encourage more equitable promotion in our industry. Furthermore, allowing everyone an equal opportunity to speak during a meeting taps into more perspectives, skills, and experiences and benefits overall team performance.

Everyone has subconscious and unintentional biases about other people. Taking this quiz can help you learn what about your own biases. Once you understand your implicit bias, you can work to check yourself and counteract any bias you may have.

Every Monday, we will be posting an action describing something you can immediately do to help make our profession (and hopefully, the world) a bit more equitable for everyone.

Further Reading:

To learn about “Equity by Design”, spend some time exploring this website. There are blog posts, articles, videos, events, and a large amount of data that can help you learn about the mission of EQxD and the importance of equity.